Reviews

Impossible Vacation by Spalding Gray

jz3532's review

funny reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

sljbook's review

dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

ben_whackley's review

5.0

I can't pretend to be an unbiased reviewer. I read "Impossible Vacation" over the course of my worst summer — internship I hated, living alone in a cabin in the woods. June-August was just one long, depressive episode, and I was forced to confront my demons. Impossible Vacation was the only book I finished while living in the cabin, and I empathized with the anxiety, depression, loneliness throughout. This isn't a perfect book by any means, but at the right time, it can be. It was for me.

jasonwarrick's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A VERY intimate portrait of a VERY unwell man that made me feel a lot of things, both good and bad.

karencorday's review

4.0

Why'd you do it, Spalding Gray? I wish you hadn't. It makes me angry that I'll never read anything new of yours again. And here I am acting like I'm writing to you, not some web site. Look what you've made me do, Spalding Gray. Take a look at me now.

stegan's review

3.0

Good, but lacks the punch of his monologues.

greyscarf's review

4.0

A few thoughts on Gray's novel, which is the first thing I've read of Spalding Gray's works.

I think watching Soderbergh's And Everything is Going Fine was a good intro into Gray's distinctive voice & obsessions. However, many of the stories in Impossible Vacation were touched on in the film.

While the story is about Brewster North's travels here in the US & abroad, the abstract idea that eludes him is the ability "to hang out"--a catchall term for being comfortable in the moment.

North's interlude w. another man in an Amsterdam bathhouse makes me want to go back & read Matthew's rantings in Nightwood.

The ending insight is sad: North has a realization of wholeness yet begins the whole story again, trapped in a loop. Will he be able to reach clarity again? We know the answer from real life.